Rating: 
Summary: Artistic, Compelling and a little boring....
Review: I am glad I read this book. But it wasn't as good as I expected. Makine's style has been compared to Sallinger's in 'Catcher in the Rye', but it isn't as good. Maybe it just a different style of writting an essentially similar story. I thought that although it conveyed and inspired passion in the reader; it lost some of it's flair in attemtping to be too lingually impressive. The flowery, poetic language was a good way to tell this age-old boy growing into a man tale, but at times it was too flowery and too much. Being one who appreciates the use of crafty language (such as Ms. Virginia Woolf), although I was mildly impresseed, I was sometimes confused. The story line itself is not unique. The enviroment the boys grow in is. This novel provided an inside look at what outsiders think to be a cold, angry, unlivable terrain-- Siberia. I was amazed at Makine's ability explain the beauty of such a place, and it interested me to envision one growing up there. He was able to make me feel like I was visiting this odd town- so that was cool. The story wasn't very moving, the characters weren't too connectable. It took a really long time to tell a really short story. I liked expanding my Russian experience, but I was lost at certain parts of this novel. Some instances seemed to drag and be over-done but I guess that is typical of the place where the boys lived. I enjoy many Russian novelists and might have been expecting a little too much with this work. Overall, I would read it again, but it wasn't one of my favorites.
Rating:
Summary: Artistic, Compelling and a little boring....
Review: I am glad I read this book. But it wasn't as good as I expected. Makine's style has been compared to Sallinger's in 'Catcher in the Rye', but it isn't as good. Maybe it just a different style of writting an essentially similar story. I thought that although it conveyed and inspired passion in the reader; it lost some of it's flair in attemtping to be too lingually impressive. The flowery, poetic language was a good way to tell this age-old boy growing into a man tale, but at times it was too flowery and too much. Being one who appreciates the use of crafty language (such as Ms. Virginia Woolf), although I was mildly impresseed, I was sometimes confused. The story line itself is not unique. The enviroment the boys grow in is. This novel provided an inside look at what outsiders think to be a cold, angry, unlivable terrain-- Siberia. I was amazed at Makine's ability explain the beauty of such a place, and it interested me to envision one growing up there. He was able to make me feel like I was visiting this odd town- so that was cool. The story wasn't very moving, the characters weren't too connectable. It took a really long time to tell a really short story. I liked expanding my Russian experience, but I was lost at certain parts of this novel. Some instances seemed to drag and be over-done but I guess that is typical of the place where the boys lived. I enjoy many Russian novelists and might have been expecting a little too much with this work. Overall, I would read it again, but it wasn't one of my favorites.
Rating: 
Summary: Brilliant...Makine continues with life in the taigas
Review: I found this book a wonderful story. The thread was fascinating and the way that JP Belmondo becomes a factor is pure genius. I can't wait for the next installment, this one about Olga.
Rating: 
Summary: Difficult and confusing
Review: I had such a dreadful, struggling experience reading this book. I couldn't understand a word of it except what the back of the book said. When the author went off on his poetical tangent, I was just lost. I couldn't see the symbolism, although I knew it was there. Don't get me wrong, Mr. Makine is a very talented and gifted writer, but I think only those who read poetry and novels that you have to concentrate on would enjoy this one.
Rating:
Summary: Difficult and confusing
Review: I had such a dreadful, struggling experience reading this book. I couldn't understand a word of it except what the back of the book said. When the author went off on his poetical tangent, I was just lost. I couldn't see the symbolism, although I knew it was there. Don't get me wrong, Mr. Makine is a very talented and gifted writer, but I think only those who read poetry and novels that you have to concentrate on would enjoy this one.
Rating:
Summary: A beautiful story about nothing and everything
Review: I hope the girl who didn't understand the novel will try a little harder. It is so beautifully crafted. It holds in its pages the heartbreaking longing of youth for love and for their future which is mysteriously yet to unfold. The narrator senses a life beyond his present circumstances through the Transsiberian train's windows. However he sees another future in the harshness of day to day existence there in Siberia. Makine puts a human face on that far unimaginable country. He also teaches us of the loss of war. It is a woven tapestry of character and time in which each piece contributes to the whole.
Rating:
Summary: What a beautifully crafted novel
Review: I hope the girl who didn't understand the novel will try a little harder. It is so beautifully crafted. It holds in its pages the heartbreaking longing of youth for love and for their future which is mysteriously yet to unfold. The narrator senses a life beyond his present circumstances through the Transsiberian train's windows. However he sees another future in the harshness of day to day existence there in Siberia. Makine puts a human face on that far unimaginable country. He also teaches us of the loss of war. It is a woven tapestry of character and time in which each piece contributes to the whole.
Rating:
Summary: Encountering sex and art in a Siberian wasteland.
Review: In a callous and cold Siberian village, whose inhabitants' lives revolve around timber, prisoners, and gold, there is no room for romance and beauty. Makine tells the story of three young boys who are full of indiscernible longings, until a Belmondo film arrives at a nearby town and gives voice to all their dreams. In one of novel's most poignant chapters, Makine describes how each of the three boys sees a different hero on the cinema screen- for the hardened Samurai, it is Belmondo's feats of bravery; for the crippled Utkin, it is his stoicism in the face of lifelong disappointment; and for the poet Dmitri, it is the alluring Western world of beauty and sensuality. Makine brings powerful emotion to both Dmitri's sexual desire and his longing to experience the West. Perhaps more than any other author, Makine manages to find intense lyric beauty in this carnal desire, devoting pages to blurry visions of female flesh. But most of all, this masterfully crafted novel leaves the reader with an emotional and philosophical understanding of how a single work of art can forever change the course of three human lives.
Rating:
Summary: Mastery of prose
Review: Makine is a Russian-born author, who sought asylum in France at the age of 30. He is the first novelist to have received France's prestigious Prix Medices and Prix Goncouert for the same book. His perfect mastery of the French language is rooted on lessons received from his grandmother, and when presenting his writngs to the editors in France he had to pretend they were translations from Russian. The coming of age for three boys in a remote village in Siberia is the main event around which this novel is structured. The trio, handsome Alyosha (the narrator), lamed Utkin, and strong minded Samurai, are all products of a secluded, narrow minded environment, where the only future perspectives are to work in the logging industry, the gold mines, or as a guard at a nearby gulag. In this world of no changes, in a land where romantic love had no place, of long winters, of boredom and lack of passions, the coming of a series of Belmondo movies will fuel their imagination and search for the unknown. The boys become seduced, fascinated by everything these films represent, the Western world and culture, freedom, love for the sake of love, and the beautiful sexy women. The effect is so strong that each one of the boys will eventually live out their own Belmondian fantasy. Uktkin as a writer, Samurai as a guerilla fighter, and the writer in the film industry. Skilfully constructed and elegantly written, flamboyant style, sophisticated prose, sometimes overly elaborated. The reader will sometimes feel intoxicated with the language; Makine's descriptions of Siberian winters are at the same time exceedingly touching and repetitive. With a sexual overture, Andrei Makine carries his novel with a passionate prose, dreamy eroticism and powerful images. This novel carries a universal theme in a provincial setting. In its deep psychological context, there is also the sociological aspect. The fascination "development" will play over "backwards" societies, the migration from the later to the first, and the emotional consequences upon those who dare face the change.
Rating:
Summary: Mastery of prose
Review: Makine is a Russian-born author, who sought asylum in France at the age of 30. He is the first novelist to have received France's prestigious Prix Medices and Prix Goncouert for the same book. His perfect mastery of the French language is rooted on lessons received from his grandmother, and when presenting his writngs to the editors in France he had to pretend they were translations from Russian. The coming of age for three boys in a remote village in Siberia is the main event around which this novel is structured. The trio, handsome Alyosha (the narrator), lamed Utkin, and strong minded Samurai, are all products of a secluded, narrow minded environment, where the only future perspectives are to work in the logging industry, the gold mines, or as a guard at a nearby gulag. In this world of no changes, in a land where romantic love had no place, of long winters, of boredom and lack of passions, the coming of a series of Belmondo movies will fuel their imagination and search for the unknown. The boys become seduced, fascinated by everything these films represent, the Western world and culture, freedom, love for the sake of love, and the beautiful sexy women. The effect is so strong that each one of the boys will eventually live out their own Belmondian fantasy. Uktkin as a writer, Samurai as a guerilla fighter, and the writer in the film industry. Skilfully constructed and elegantly written, flamboyant style, sophisticated prose, sometimes overly elaborated. The reader will sometimes feel intoxicated with the language; Makine's descriptions of Siberian winters are at the same time exceedingly touching and repetitive. With a sexual overture, Andrei Makine carries his novel with a passionate prose, dreamy eroticism and powerful images. This novel carries a universal theme in a provincial setting. In its deep psychological context, there is also the sociological aspect. The fascination "development" will play over "backwards" societies, the migration from the later to the first, and the emotional consequences upon those who dare face the change.
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